The Third Task
Okay, so the third task was a maze. He was not sure how to feel about it. He’d had a month to prepare, so he practised some offensive spells just in case, mostly when he knew Moody was near because that guy really took it personally that he was not taking the Tournament seriously.
He understood why his method would crush the dreams of his Boy-Who-Lived fans, but he honestly did not expect that Moody would be one of them. He had seemed so down to earth initially, but ever since the first task, he had been eyeing him strangely and it only got worse after the second task.
Maybe he thought that Harry’s lackluster participation was giving the defence professor and the former badass auror a bad rep or something.
He became rather insistent lately, wanting to help him, trying to convince him that he could win. So after a while, Harry figured he should just play along since it was less of a hassle.
He pretended that Moody’s motivational speeches were successful and that he really wanted to win now. He had to take some private lessons from Moody in exchange but most importantly, it stopped Moody from popping up at all times of a day in random places just to talk to him about the Tournament. And the lessons really were quite interesting, so he did not mind and did his best.
The professor just didn't need to know that he had no intention of using the spells he learned for the task. He really had enough life-threatening situations in his actual life, why waste all his luck and useful knowledge on some pointless tournament.
He figures his determination to master the spells for his future, almost certain, though unwilling, dealings with killers, lunatics and Dark Lords translated nicely into his Oscar-worthy performance for Moody.
Mostly, he was, again, taking the wisdom Dursleys unknowingly imparted to him. Petunia always criticized the subpar acting in her soap operas and Vernon had a habit of very loudly telling actors how stupid their actions and expressions were, whenever he didn’t like them. In the last few months, Harry had taken all these comments as instructions on his acting skills and so far, it seemed to be working. He really was getting a knack for acting. Who would have thought growing up, the Dursleys would give him all these random useful skills.
***
Since he had the lowest number of points, he had to go into the maze last. He did not know how that was possible but apparently, his points were above zero. Which meant someone had to actually award him points for his two previous tasks. He had no idea what he did that inspired the judges to do so. The standards for this thing seemed extremely low, for him to get even one single point for a joke of a performance he was putting up. He definitely wouldn’t give himself any points if he was a judge. He would probably even take them if he could.
Harry stepped into the labyrinth when it was his turn. He just walked around the closest corner, out of the view, and sat down. He couldn’t bring anything but a wand with him, but he stashed a picnic basket in the corner of the stadium on the off chance he could summon it. No such luck apparently since the charm did not seem to be working. Oh well, boredom it is. He figured he would have to wait a while before sending red sparks into the air so the teachers would come and pick him up. He reckoned his acting skills were pretty good by now and he could pretend to be unconscious while the professors would get him out.
He was just in the middle of his tenth, extremely riveting and merciless, crisscross game against himself when somebody screamed. It sounded like Fleur.
Ugh, thank Merlin he did not go into the maze. That did not sound fun.
After an intense twentieth round of thumb wrestling, someone was screaming again and he was running out of game ideas to keep himself entertained.
Sometime later, when he was counting leaves on the hedge opposite to him (10 456 and counting) he heard footsteps. Okay, apparently he had waited for too long. Someone had already won and was coming back. He should probably move aside since he was blocking the only way out.
He turned around the corner and decided to wait, but the footsteps were still coming toward him. He peeked around the edge and was almost hit with a spell coming from Krum’s wand, barely dodging in time.
“Okay, no need to get violent! I don’t care about the cup,” he called to Victor but there was no answer.
Come to think of it. Krum did not seem to have a cup in his hands. Was he just eliminating competition before claiming it? Well, it was a fair strategy. If he had already incapacitated Fleur and Cedric, Harry was the only one left and it would definitely be less of a hassle to carry the cup out of the labyrinth if he did not have to worry about competition stealing it.
He was ruthless though and did not cease the attack, no matter how much Harry insisted that he could not care less for the Cup. He was lucky Moody gave him all those private lessons or he would be in big trouble.
He would have let himself be hit with one of the curses so he could get out of the competition but he did not fancy laying unconscious for however long it took Krum to retrieve the cup and come back, on the off chance the Bulgarian seeker did not send red sparks for the teachers to get him out of the labyrinth. Talk about great killing opportunities. For all he knew, that was just what his wanna-be killer was waiting for, however, he did not know how long he could keep this up.
Taking a chance, he fainted on the right and then fired a stunner to the left at Krum’s feet.
I worked. Krum fell on the ground unconscious and Harry was left standing there dumbfounded.
Okay, so he did not think this through. If Krum has eliminated all other champions and he eliminated Krum, did that... mean he won? Or was this like a quidditch game and the task would go on and on, until someone got the cup?
Yeah, he was not dealing with that. Time to play dead.
He did not bother to send sparks up for Krum, better to make it look like he was the last one standing. He turned around a few corners, some distance away and out of the sight of Victor’s unconscious body, summoned red sparks in the air and promptly fell on the ground.
It took a while but finally, he heard professors’ voices. Moody and McGonagall were coming closer.
“I’m telling you Minerva, I got that one.”
“Don’t be ridiculous Alastor, I’ve got it. You really should pay attention to what is going on with the winning contestant. You are the only one who can see through the hedges and you said a while ago, there were only Krum and Potter left, which means now, we have a winner.”
“Yes but…”
“Oh, no,” he heard the professor stop at his side, “well, I guess I didn’t really expect Potter to win, but it would be nice for Gryffindor house to have a winner.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate Minerva.” Moody’s tone was giving Harry the chills. He was pissed. Harry hoped his eye could not see that he was just pretending to be unconscious. Maybe he should have stunned himself. “I was hoping to do this without witne-“
“Professor McGonagall!” Hagrid's booming voice interrupted Moody. “Who won? I brought Professor Flitwick whet me!”
It sounded like Moody was cursing something fierce.
“As you can see Krum seems to be only one left,” replied McGonagall, “and Alastor, that is hardly an appropriate response. I know you favored Mr. Potter but contain yourself.”
After that, everything went pretty smoothly. Professor Flitwick immediately cancelled the containment field around the maize and announced with a loud sonorous that Durmstrang champion was the winner.”
Cue more cursing from Moody.
Apparently, from what Harry could gather from their conversation, all other competitors were eliminated but no one got the cup, so Krum won by default whether he got to it or not.
Since the entrance to the maize was only a few meters away, other professors and judges soon joined them. Some ministry officials accompanied pissed and cursing Moody into the maze to find Krum and bring the cup back.
He was transported to the medical tent and woken up with a reviving spell - not that he needed one - and Madam Pomfrey's annoyed look conveyed that she was very aware of that.
He was allowed to leave and join his friend in the stands.
A while later, he saw Moody arguing with Madam Pomfery which seemed to have ended with him stunned, fed some potions (his guess was on Calming Drough, that guy really could not deal with Harry's failure, he looked more and more unhinged) and an impromptu stay at the medical tent.
The professors have found an unconscious Krum and there was some arguing among the judges, which was interrupted by a commotion in the medical tent in which they all disappeared for quite a long time. No one knew what was going on in there, but a red-faced Minister Fudge could be seen exiting the tent together with Dumbledore.
The professors then announced the Triwizard Tournament was over, which was rather sudden. There was no award ceremony and no one had even seen the cup.
Come to think of it, maybe the ministry officials, who had gone looking for it, got lost in the maze because they had not returned yet. He would expect them to have maps or something but you never knew. This whole evening was turning out to be a complete sham.
All in all, students left to bed completely confused and unsatisfied.
***
The next day, there was a rumor going around that Moody was admitted to St. Mungos hospital. Harry felt kind of bad about it. He did not intend to cause his professor to have a nervous breakdown. He actually liked the guy when he wasn’t bugging him. He was a really good teacher.